Parents seek answers in gun case

Wednesday

Oct 10, 2012 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - The cafeteria at Van Buren Elementary was packed Tuesday night, more than 200 parents turning out for a community meeting the day after a 12-year-old boy fired a gun into the floor of a seventh-grade classroom.

Roger Phillips

STOCKTON - The cafeteria at Van Buren Elementary was packed Tuesday night, more than 200 parents turning out for a community meeting the day after a 12-year-old boy fired a gun into the floor of a seventh-grade classroom.

In the back of the room sat Kathrine Rincon, the single mother of a fifth-grade boy who attends Van Buren. At one point, she lost her composure, raised her voice and appealed for someone - anyone - to help make her crime-ridden neighborhood safer.

"People are dying in our neighborhood," she said, her voice breaking. Stockton Unified Police Chief Jim West approached Rincon and crouched next to her, and the two had a quiet conversation.

Later, Rincon explained her frustration.

"I want something done in our neighborhood," said Rincon, 47. "The crime rate here is outrageous. Kids here have easy access to guns, to drugs, and they're raised on hate."

She recalled her son's reaction to Monday's shooting, in which no one was hurt.

"Do you know what he said?" Rincon recounted. "It's normal to him. Is that right for a fifth-grader?"

Stockton Unified officials, including West, have said the shooting was an accident, though some in the community said privately they don't believe it.

West said an 11-year-old boy took the .22-caliber handgun from his backpack and handed it to a classmate, who mishandled it and fired a single shot into the floor.

Teacher Misty Doyal took the gun from the 12-year-old, ending the threat, according to Van Buren Principal Ione Ringen. The two boys were arrested by Stockton Unified police and taken to juvenile hall.

It was not known Tuesday if they were still at juvenile hall. Stephanie James, the chief probation officer for San Joaquin County, said that because the boys are so young, she is not permitted to reveal whether they are still being held.

Meanwhile, the investigation was moving slowly, according to West.

"There's still a whole lot we don't know," he said. "We don't know where the kid got the gun. We don't know the purpose, why the kid brought the gun to the campus."

A big problem, West said, is that classmates are not cooperating with police. He called it a "don't-be-a-snitch atmosphere."

At Tuesday night's meeting, West told the audience, "I know some people are afraid of retaliation." He promised the anonymity of informants would be protected.

West said the weapon remained at Stockton Unified police headquarters Tuesday but probably will be taken today to the Stockton Police Department for testing. Through the testing, police hope to learn whether the weapon was ever used in a crime.

At Tuesday night's meeting, parents made a variety of suggestions, many focused on backpacks. Among the suggestions were to search backpacks, to ban backpacks and to begin using metal detectors.

Starting today, district officials said a second campus security assistant will be assigned to Van Buren for at least the next few weeks. But West said enhanced security is not enough.

"What we have to do is solve this as a social problem," he said. "We have to make it so the children don't want to bring that to school."